June 3, 2013

Why I think the government will have a tough time winning the Apple e-books antitrust case

Geoffrey A. Manne

Trial begins today in the Southern District of New York in United States v. Apple (the Apple e-books case), which I discussed previously here. Along with co-author Will Rinehart, I…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

May 28, 2012

Apple Responds to the DOJ e-Books Complaint

Joshua Wright

Apple has filed its response to the DOJ Complaint in the e-books case.  Here is the first paragraph of the Answer: The Government’s Complaint against Apple is fundamentally flawed as…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

March 26, 2012

DOJ’s Latest on Apple Investigation

Joshua Wright

From the WSJ: Publishers argue that the agency model promotes competition by allowing more booksellers to thrive. They say Amazon had sold e-books below cost and that agency pricing saved…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

March 15, 2012

The Apple E-Book Kerfuffle Meets Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics

Joshua Wright

From a pure antitrust perspective, the real story behind the DOJ’s Apple e-book investigation is the Division’s deep commitment to the view that Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) clauses are anticompetitive (see also…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

March 2, 2011

An update on the evolving e-book market: Kindle edition (pun intended)

Geoffrey A. Manne

[UPDATE:  Josh links to a WSJ article telling us that EU antitrust enforcers raided several (unnamed) e-book publishers as part of an apparent antitrust investigation into the agency model and…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

August 3, 2010

Apple and Amazon E-Book Most Favored Nation Clauses

Joshua Wright

Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal has reportedly contacted Apple and Amazon concerning their pricing arrangements with publishers (WSJ, CNN): Mr. Blumenthal said he has sent letters to Amazon and Apple asking…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection